In mid-June, Kansas high school marching band instructor Rosa Adams-Bussard was injured when she fell down a flight of stairs. After severely damaging two vertebrae, Adams-Bussard was treated at Craig Hospital, a specialty hospital for spinal injuries, outside of Denver. Diagnosed as an “incomplete paraplegic,” her fall has left her in a wheelchair.
After hearing the news, the marching band at the Olathe Northwest High School, where Adams-Bussard teaches, came together to help create a home where she could live. Without ramps and special accommodations to her bathroom and bedroom, Adams-Bussard would have otherwise been returning to a home where she could not get around in her motorized wheelchair. Now, with the help of her students, she will soon be able to live in her house without trouble.
Shortly before her return to Kansas City in September, 25 students from Olathe Northwest High School came together with hammers and nails to help her build the ramps she needed to move around more freely. Then, as the school year began, she made a surprise entrance into the Olathe Northwest High School auditorium at a pre-homecoming pep assembly. The students all cheered for her, cried and hugged her and swarmed her on the floor to show their support following her tragic Kansas fall accident.
As she continues to receive rehabilitation and her home remains under construction, Ms. Adams-Bussard and her husband are staying in a wheelchair accessible apartment. She hopes to return to teaching for the 2013-2014 school year.